Resumption of sexual activity affects mother-infant interactions in Japanese macaques

This study evaluated the responses of infant Japanese macaques (Macaca fusc ata) to their mother's resumption of mating. Mothers and infants were obser ved before, during and after the mating season. Observations carried out du ring the mating season were subdivided according to the mother's consort ac tivity with mature males. During consorts, significant decrements in mother -infant ventroventral contact and proximity, and in the roles played by mot hers in maintaining contact and proximity were observed, while maternal rej ection increased significantly. Social behaviour of infants and allomaterna l care they received were unaffected by the mother's consort activity. Effe cts of consorts were more evident in female than in male infants, but were not influenced by the infant age or by the quality of the relationship it h ad with its mother before the mating season. These results do not support t he hypothesis that the effects of the mother's resumption of mating may par allel those of experimental mother-infant separation.